Gus Edwards (songwriter)
Encyclopedia
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and vaudevillian
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
. He also organised his own theatre companies and was a music publisher.
Early life
Edwards was born Gus Simon in Hohensalza (Inowrocław), German EmpireGerman Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
. When he was seven, his family moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, ending up in the Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
neighborhood of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. During the day, he worked in the family cigar store, and in the evenings, he wandered looking for any sort of show business job. He found work as a singer at various lodge halls, on ferry boat lounges, in saloons, and even between bouts at the athletic clubs. There is a story that in the early 1890s Edwards met up with famed prizefighter John L. Sullivan
John L. Sullivan
John Lawrence Sullivan , also known as the Boston Strong Boy, was recognized as the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing from February 7, 1881 to 1892, and is generally recognized as the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle boxing under the London Prize Ring rules...
, by then working in vaudeville, who was so impressed with the youngster that he decided to employ him in his act.
As a very young boy, Edwards worked as a song plugger
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
at Koster and Bial's, at Tony Pastor
Tony Pastor
Tony Pastor was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late nineteenth century...
's theatre, and at the Bowery Theatre
Bowery Theatre
The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s...
. In those old vaudeville days, song publishers would often hire a very young boy to sit in the theatre, and immediately after a vaudeville star had sung one of the publisher's songs, the youngster would stand up in the audience, and pretending to be completely overcome by the song, break out in an "extemporaneous" solo of the same tune. In this way, the young Edwards would often sit in a balcony seat, and then stand and repeat a song that vaudeville stars such as Maggie Cline, Lottie Gilson
Lottie Gilson
Lottie Gilson was a popular comedienne and vaudeville singer born in 1871 in Pennsylvania who died in New York in 1912.She was known as "The Little Magnet" in recognition of her considerable abilities to boost sheet music sales during the 1880s and 1890s....
or Emma Carus
Emma Carus
Emma Carus was a contralto singer from New York who was in the cast of the original Ziegfeld Follies in 1907. Her given name was Emma Carus.She frequently sang invaudeville and sometimes in Broadway features...
had just sung.
Career
In 1896, Edwards was just 17 years old and appearing at Johnny Palmer's Gaiety Saloon in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, when James Hyde
James Hyde
James Hyde is an American actor, dancer, and former male fashion model who played the role of Sam Bennett on the television soap opera Passions. Full name is James Robert Hyde. He was born and raised in Lancaster, Ohio.-Biography:...
, a vaudeville agent, saw him performing. He booked a tour for Edwards and four other boys as The Newsboys Quintet act. In 1898, while performing in this act, Edwards wrote his first song, to a lyric by Tom Daly, "All I Want is My Black Baby Back". Edwards could not write music at that time, so he hired Charles Previn
Charles Previn
Charles Previn was an American film composer who was highly active at Universal in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s...
to write down the notes. May Irwin
May Irwin
May Irwin , was a Canadian actress, singer and star of vaudeville.-Early life and career:Born at Whitby, Ontario 1862 as Georgina May Campbell, her father, Robert E. Campbell of Whitby, Ontario, died when she was 13 years old and her stage-minded mother, Jane Draper, in need of money, encouraged...
sang the song in her act, and helped to popularize it.
While entertaining soldiers at Camp Black, during the Spanish-American War, Edwards met lyricist Will Cobb
Will D. Cobb
Will D. Cobb was an American lyricist and composer. He had a writing partnership with Ren Shields that produced many popular musicals and musical comedies.Productions and input of Will D. Cobb...
, and they formed "Words and Music", a partnership that lasted for many years. He was a vaudeville singer, and later had his own vaudeville company. He discovered Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
, Elsie Janis
Elsie Janis
Elsie Janis was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and screenwriter. Entertaining the troops during World War I immortalized her as "the sweetheart of the AEF" .-Early career:...
, Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
, the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
, Lila Lee
Lila Lee
Lila Lee was a prominent screen actress of the early silent film era.-Early life:Lila Lee was born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel in Union Hill, New Jersey into a middle-class family of German immigrants who relocated to New York City when Lila was quite young...
, Eleanor Powell
Eleanor Powell
Eleanor Torrey Powell was an American film actress and dancer of the 1930s and 1940s, known for her exuberant solo tap dancing.-Early life:...
, Hildegarde, Ray Bolger
Ray Bolger
Raymond Wallace "Ray" Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hank in The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
, Sally Rand
Sally Rand
Sally Rand was a burlesque dancer and actress, most noted for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck.-Early life and career:...
, Jack Pearl
Jack Pearl
Jack Pearl, born Jack Perlman , was a vaudeville performer and a star of early radio.Born in New York, Pearl made an easy transition from vaudeville to broadfcasting when he introduced his character Baron Munchausen on The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air in 1932. His creation was loosely based on the...
, the Lane Sisters
Lane Sisters
The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether...
, and Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton was an American female leader during the Big band era, and sister to June Hutton.Hutton was born as Odessa Cowan in Chicago, Illinois of African American descent. She began dancing and singing in stage revues at the age of eight. Cowan's mother Marvel Ray was a local pianist and...
. He wrote the Broadway stage scores for "When We Were Forty-One", "Hip Hip Hooray", "The Merry-Go-Round", "School Days
School Days (1907 song)
"School Days", also known as "School Days ", is an American popular song written in 1907 by Will Cobb and Gus Edwards. Its subject is a mature man and woman looking back sentimentally on their lifelong friendship and their days in primary school.The best known part of the song is its chorus:* ,...
", "Ziegfeld Follies of 1910", "Sunbonnet Sue", and "Show Window". He founded the Gus Edwards Music Hall in New York, and also his own publishing company, then produced special subjects for films, and returned to vaudeville between 1930 and 1937, finally retiring in 1939. His chief musical collaborators included Edward Madden
Edward Madden
Edward Madden was an American lyricist.Madden was born in New York City and graduated from Fordham University. After graduation he wrote material for many singers including Fanny Brice and for vaudeville acts...
, Will Cobb
Will D. Cobb
Will D. Cobb was an American lyricist and composer. He had a writing partnership with Ren Shields that produced many popular musicals and musical comedies.Productions and input of Will D. Cobb...
, and Robert B. Smith
Robert Bache Smith
Robert Bache Smith , usually published as Robert B. Smith, was an American librettist and lyricist. His older brother, Harry B. Smith, was also a successful lyricist and a writer and composer....
. His other popular-song compositions include "Meet Me Under the Wisteria", "By the Light of the Silvery Moon", "I Can't Tell You Why I Love You but I Do", "Goodbye, Little Girl, Goodbye", "I Just Can't Make My Eyes Behave", "I'll Be With You When the Roses Bloom Again", "He's My Pal", "Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield", "In Zanzibar", "If a Girl Like You Loved a Boy Like Me", "Jimmy Valentine", "If I Were a Millionaire", "Laddie Boy" and "In My Merry Oldsmobile
In My Merry Oldsmobile
"In My Merry Oldsmobile" is a popular song from 1905, with music by Gus Edwards and lyrics by Vincent P. Bryan.The song's chorus is one of the most enduring automobile-oriented songs...
".
Leo Edwards (composer)
Leo Edwards was a Broadway composer. He was the brother of Gus Edwards,, who was also a Broadway composer....
, and the uncle of Joan Edwards and Jack Edwards.
Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
played Edwards in a fictionalized version of his life in the 1939 film
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
The Star Maker, directed by Roy Del Ruth. Edwards himself made few screen appearances, the most notable being The Hollywood Revue of 1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 is a 1929 part Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer American musical-comedy film. It was the studio's second feature-length musical, and one of the earliest ventures into the talkie format. Produced by Harry Rapf and directed by Chuck Riesner, the film brought together some...
, in which he performs as part of a vaudeville act. He also wrote all the music for The Hollywood Revue of 1929, as credited in the closing credits of the production, with the exception of "Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain (song)
"Singin' In the Rain" is a song with lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown, published in 1929. However, it is unclear exactly when the song was written with some claiming that the song was written and performed as early as 1927. The song was listed as Number 3 on AFI's 100 Years.....
" with lyrics by Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago...
and music by Nacio Herb Brown
Nacio Herb Brown
Nacio Herb Brown was an American writer of popular songs, movie scores, and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s.-Biography:...
. He also performs a specialty number: "Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
's Gonna Get You If You Don't Watch Out".
Edwards was a founder member of ASCAP in 1914 and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
in 1970.
Broadway works
Note: All shows are musicals unless otherwise stated.- Hodge, Podge & Co. (1900) - featured songwriter
- The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which was originally published in 1900...
(1903) interpolated songs with Will D. CobbWill D. CobbWill D. Cobb was an American lyricist and composer. He had a writing partnership with Ren Shields that produced many popular musicals and musical comedies.Productions and input of Will D. Cobb...
- "Rosalie"
- "I Love Only One Girl in the Wide, Wide World"
- "The Tale of a Cassowary"
- "Johnnie I'll Take You"
- "I'll Never Love Another Love Like I Love You"
- The Medal and the Maid (1904) - featured composer for "In Zanzibar"
- When We Were Forty-one (1905) - composer (for twelve out of fourteen numbers)
- Breaking Into Society (1905) - co-composer and co-lyricist
- His Honor the Mayor (1906) - contributing composer and lyricist
- Revived again in 1906, twice in 1907
- The Blue Moon (1906) - featured composer for "(Don't You Think It's) Time to Marry"
- A Parisian Model (1906) - featured co-songwriter for "I (Just) Can't Make My Eyes Behave"
- Revived in 1908
- Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld FolliesThe Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
of 1907 (1907) - revueRevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
- featured composer for "That's What the Rose Said to Me" and "On the Grand Old Sands" - The Hired Girl's Millions (1907) - featured songwriter for "Where the River Shannon Flows"
- Hip! Hip! Hooray! of 1907 (1907) - composer
- The-Merry-Go-Round (1908) - composer (for all but three numbers)
- School Days (1908) - composer, co-lyricist, producerTheatrical producerA theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
- Miss Innocence (1908) - featured composer and lyricist for "What Kind of a Wife to Choose (What Kind of a Wife Does a Man Like Best)"
- Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld FolliesThe Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
of 1909 (1909) - revueRevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
- featured composer for "My Cousin Caruso (from Miss Innocence)" from Miss Innocence and "Up! Up! Up! in My Aeroplane" - Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld FolliesThe Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
of 1910 (1910) - revueRevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
- co-bookwriter and featured composer for "Look Me Over Carefully (and Tell Me Will I Do)", "Sweet Kitty Bellairs", "Kidland", "Our American Colleges", "In the Evening (In de Evenin')", "The Black Cat", "A Woman's Dream", "Mr. Earth and His Comet Love (The Comet and the Earth)" and "The Waltzing Lieutenant" - Broadway Sho-Window (1936) - revueRevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
- composer, producerTheatrical producerA theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
and director
Posthumously:
- Tintypes (1980) - revueRevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
- featured songwriter